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Tuesday, December 01, 2015

In My Kitchen | December 2015

In my kitchen are peaches from our own tree! Last year our little tree produced three perfect peaches, about the size of a peach from the shop. This year, however, the tree's branches are covered with fruit. The peaches aren't as big this year, but they are sweet and juicy and just perfect straight from the tree.

Another loaf of sourdough. I was particularly happy with this one. I've been baking lots of loaves lately, trying to improve the appearance of my bread. I'm perfectly happy with the taste and texture, which is the most important thing, but I do like a loaf to be pretty too.

The warm weather means a constant flow of eggs from the laying flock, and even the bantams are contributing regularly. The hens had ideas about hiding their eggs, and after a few days of no eggs and no luck discovering their hidden nests, they have been restricted to afternoon free-ranging only.

Some tomatoes from the garden. It's hit and miss with the tomatoes at the moment, as the grubs seem to have taken a fancy to them. I've never actually had a grub problem before, but this year I'm being forced to share about half of the crop with them. Hopefully when the other tomato plants start fruiting I'll have less problems, as the other plants are in a more established part of the garden, so hopefully the biodiversity will confuse the bad bugs.

My favourite kind of cake to bake and eat are classic tea cakes, like this Sultana Cake. As usual this is made on spelt and rapadura. I flavoured this one with brandy instead of rum, which gave it a lovely aroma and made it feel a little bit festive. I'll be sharing the recipe here later in this week.

Are you starting festive baking yet or is it too early for you?
I'm joining Celia once again, make sure you check out the happenings in everyone else's kitchens!

26 comments

How wonderful to have peaches from your own tree - they look fabulous. I agree with you about baking bread looking good and have been experimenting recently with different slashing techniques to see which I like best. Although I love the look of a loaf with a slash down the centre, mine spread too much when I use that technique, though maybe I'm not kneading enough.

I'm always trying new slashing patterns to see what look they produce. Mine slides a little when I slash it down the middle, but I put it in the oven immediately afterwards and with a high temperature for the first 15 minutes it has great oven spring, so comes out fine.

Interested to see you successfully making 100% spelt loaves. I gave up on bread making because I can't eat wheat and my spelt loaves were always like bricks. I'm going to have a go with some of Celia's Priscilla starter, do you have a good source for spelt flour? Any tip also would be helpful

Oh don't give up! Spelt bread is delicious and really very simple if you have the correct recipes/technique. All of my baking is done with 100% Spelt and I love it.I'm going to wrote a post shortly full of links to sites, books and tips I've discovered myself on Spelt bread baking, as I've had this question a lot lately. In the mean time I'm happy to help via email if you can send me your address? Bulk Whole Foods has an excellent range of grains and flours, there is a link to their online shop on my sidebar. Sarah x

All your fresh produce looks delicious. Homegrown peaches are simply the best! I love the egg holder, how cute. Your loaf is also gorgeous, I have yet to experiment with spelt...add that to my long to do list.

How fantastic that you have a whole tree full of peaches. what heaven. You have more tomatoes in that bowl than I could dream growing.... they are lovely. I am looking forward to that sultana cake recipe. i love sultana cakes my favourite ( well along with all cake)

I'm so happy you to meet you and just had to stop by. Your photos are gorgeous! From what I see of your life, I can tell you, it's what I dream about! So for now i will have to drink in your blog! :) Love your sourdough spelt triumph! and those peaches. How fortunate to have your own tree!!

Thank-you so much Emilie :-) We are very fortunate to have our own tree (amongst other things!). I'm really looking forward to having peaches every year as the tree gets bigger.Thanks so stopping by and for your kind comment x

Love everything in your kitchen/garden Sarah, especially your home-grown peaches & tomatoes :) With your tomatoes, do you have basil or marigolds planted around your tomato bushes? These two things help promote ladybugs and 'good' bugs so the white butterflies don't lay their eggs as much. What a beautiful sourdough, I'm going to try this for sure - thanks for sharing. See you next month #IMK

Thank-you!No I don't have anything planted near my tomatoes that got attacked by the bugs, but the ones I have planted permaculture-style have died from bacterial wilt. It seems it's just not the year for tomatoes here :-)

Ooh, I would love a taste of your sun-kissed peaches! And the spelt bread looks marvelous as do those fresh eggs. We have been thinking of getting some chickens next summer. :) Thanks for the peek into your kitchen!

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Welcome to Say! Little Hen. This blog is written by me, Sarah, from my home in New South Wales, Australia. I'm the lucky owner of an online yarn boutique and as wool is a huge part of my life it's a big part of this blog, too. Alongside knitting, you'll also find posts about sourdough and gardening, and lots of photos.

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